Mini Metro

Minimalist strategy game about managin transit system

On this page

Mini Metro

Background

Gameplay

Aesthetics

Variety

Accessibility

Conclusion

My Background

I was

Gameplay

So, what do you do in the game? Basically the game loop is as follows:

You use rail road lines to connect ever-appearing geometrically shaped stations, so that passengers could ride the train to the station of their shape.
Every in-game week you choose which upgrades to receive,
And try to avoid passengers overcrowding your stations, which will be a game over. Simple.

Fewer game elements you have – easier to learn their basics

Fewer game elements, also allow you to pay more attention to polishing their Mechanics.

Some stations are rare, but popular - you have to plan an easy access to them
Should you spend a tunnel to go under the river, or make a rail line go around the water, but make path longer?
Sharp turns at the stations make trains stop at them even if station is empty, so you should avoid that

Difficulty spikes up fast after initial weeks and you start revising your strategy before angry city government closes up your underground.

Structure, Variety, Progression

To talk about risks of minimalist approach I need to tell you about the Level variety
Level variety
So, each level in Mini Metro is a different city.
And their variety is achieved by manipulations with...
What’s even cooler:

They’ve been adding lots of levels after release,
and Steam version allows to play levels created by community!

Risks of minimalism

After unlocking every level I started completing hard challenges. I felt awesome when I did the 1st three levels, but then I've started noticing the repetition in challenge rules and pretty quickly lost interest in completing them.
So it means that for me at that point the game has lost the sense of novelty

Possible solutions I would suggest - adding more character to the cities by:

Adding some cultural accurate icons;
Adding challenges more in line with the cities;
Maybe, adding small unlockable facts about their transit systems I know it means more research work, but I feel that it might be just as rewarding

Aesthetics: Elegant

The game is a love letter to graphic design. It feels like an ode to legacies of Harry Beck's London Tube map and Massimo Vignelli’s New York City Subway map.

Sound design was codeveloped with Disasterpeace.
The procedurally generated sound FX form the abstract music that feels chill while you’re doing okay, but unnerving when peeps (passengers) start to overcrowd.

Overall, I would say that even if the game didn’t have all the texts and translations, the graphic design, animation and player’s real life experiences with the signage would do keep it accessible.

UX: Quick to Boot

The UI/UX of the game is top notch too:

You can stop in-game time to decide your next move, or you can speed it up, if you are sure with your decisions.
The simple graphics make game fast to boot.
The game pauses the time, when you violate rules of the challenge to help you undo the wrong action.
Launch the game and you will continue right where you were

The last point are also why I find it's mobile version as a good example of plug'n'play kind of a game.

I found myself playing Mini Metro while waiting for lunch, for friend or even while riding the subway! Meta!

Spare thoughts

Mini Metro is very accessible!

You can play it almost anywhere!
Game supports lots of languages, even RTL (Right-To-Left)!
As the game has mostly touch/mouse controls, it is not that accessible for fully blind people (can’t be truly sure about a console version, as it uses focus/D-pad system, but I couldn’t acces it).
But accessible almost to everyone else:

Colourblind mode help people with colourblindness
Animations and UI are efficient and juicy enough for people with hearing problems.
The game has an option to disable those awesome, but a bit nauseating menu transitions and to disable vibration.

Developer's Vision

Inspired by their experiences at navigating the London metro map developers from Dinosaur Polo Club jammed and created the game about managing the rail transit networks.
And in the process they’ve mastered the Minimalist approach to game design.

Conclusion

Mini Metro is a champion of minimalism:

Its gameplay is easy to learn, but hard to master
Its aesthetics are iconic (hehe!) and efficient
UX helpful and just enough

But for me personally it haven’t escaped the main problem of minimalist approach: The lack of novelty over time.
It’s just my opinion! Still the game is awesome and I recommend it for everyone who loves trains, game design, strategy, graphic design and trains!

Mini Metro

Minimalist strategy game about managin transit system

My Background

I was

Gameplay

So, what do you do in the game? Basically the game loop is as follows:

You use rail road lines to connect ever-appearing geometrically shaped stations, so that passengers could ride the train to the station of their shape.
Every in-game week you choose which upgrades to receive,
And try to avoid passengers overcrowding your stations, which will be a game over. Simple.

Fewer game elements you have – easier to learn their basics

Fewer game elements, also allow you to pay more attention to polishing their Mechanics.

Some stations are rare, but popular - you have to plan an easy access to them
Should you spend a tunnel to go under the river, or make a rail line go around the water, but make path longer?
Sharp turns at the stations make trains stop at them even if station is empty, so you should avoid that

Difficulty spikes up fast after initial weeks and you start revising your strategy before angry city government closes up your underground.

Structure, Variety, Progression

They’ve been adding lots of levels after release,
and Steam version allows to play levels created by community!

Risks of minimalism

Possible solutions I would suggest - adding more character to the cities by:

Adding some cultural accurate icons;
Adding challenges more in line with the cities;
Maybe, adding small unlockable facts about their transit systems I know it means more research work, but I feel that it might be just as rewarding

Aesthetics: Elegant

The game is a love letter to graphic design. It feels like an ode to legacies of Harry Beck's London Tube map and Massimo Vignelli’s New York City Subway map.

UX: Quick to Boot

The UI/UX of the game is top notch too:

You can stop in-game time to decide your next move, or you can speed it up, if you are sure with your decisions.
The simple graphics make game fast to boot.
The game pauses the time, when you violate rules of the challenge to help you undo the wrong action.
Launch the game and you will continue right where you were

Spare thoughts

Mini Metro is very accessible!

You can play it almost anywhere!
Game supports lots of languages, even RTL (Right-To-Left)!
As the game has mostly touch/mouse controls, it is not that accessible for fully blind people (can’t be truly sure about a console version, as it uses focus/D-pad system, but I couldn’t acces it).
But accessible almost to everyone else:

Colourblind mode help people with colourblindness
Animations and UI are efficient and juicy enough for people with hearing problems.
The game has an option to disable those awesome, but a bit nauseating menu transitions and to disable vibration.

Developer's Vision

Conclusion

Mini Metro is a champion of minimalism:

Its gameplay is easy to learn, but hard to master
Its aesthetics are iconic (hehe!) and efficient
UX helpful and just enough

Mini Metro

My Background

Gameplay

Structure, Variety, Progression

Risks of minimalism

Aesthetics: Elegant

UX: Quick to Boot

Spare thoughts

Developer's Vision

Conclusion

Links

Mini Metro

My Background

Gameplay

Structure, Variety, Progression

Risks of minimalism

Aesthetics: Elegant

UX: Quick to Boot

Spare thoughts

Developer's Vision

Conclusion

Links